


target practice

by Rhiannon87



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 19:30:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9339857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhiannon87/pseuds/Rhiannon87
Summary: Seven weeks after meeting Vex'ahlia, Percy has a terrible crush and an equally terrible inability to test his gifts for her. Vex helps with the second part.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seimaisin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seimaisin/gifts).



> I have never fired a bow in my entire life, and thus Vex's training tips are based on the archery lesson YouTube videos I watched as research. Actual archers reading this, I sincerely apologize for any butchery of your craft that may have happened here.

Percy turned the remains of the explosive arrow over in his hands. It hadn’t worked at  _ all _ \-- fell far short of the target and hadn’t exploded even a little. Instead the black powder had simply spilled out into the grass when the vial shattered. So much for impressing Vex.

He glanced across the campsite to where she was sitting with her brother and her bear. It had been seven weeks or so since he’d met up with this odd little band of mercenaries and adventurers, and about six and a half weeks since he’d developed a truly terrible crush on Vex’ahlia. Maybe even longer than that. He  _ had _ given her his money within six hours of meeting her, simply because it seemed to make her happy. Overall, it was quite pathetic, and yet Percy was still letting his heart guide his actions. Thus, the explosive arrow. Or an attempt at it, anyway.

With a frown, he turned back to his study of the arrow. Balance was clearly an issue--he’d seen Vex struggling to keep it steady before firing. As was the weight. The explosive mechanism  _ should _ have worked, if it had hit the target with sufficient force. Probably best to correct the arrow itself first, make sure that it would actually impact and do some damage. Control that variable, then work on the explosive element.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work.”

Percy looked up to see Vex standing in front of him. “No, I should be the one apologizing,” he said, shaking his head. “The design was all wrong. I’ll do better next time.” He hoped. He could make adjustments, but without a way to test them, it was… hmm.

“What?” Vex asked. He frowned at her, puzzled, and she smirked. “You had your thinking face on,” she explained, then furrowed her brow and unfocused her gaze. An impression of him, Percy realized after a moment.

“Oh. Uh, yes. Well, the problem is--there were a lot of problems with this,” he gestured with the arrow, “but the  _ reason _ there were so many problems is that I didn’t test the design before giving it to you.”

“Okay,” Vex agreed slowly. “So… that means what?”

“That means I think I’d like to ask you to teach me how to shoot a bow,” he said. “Not expecting you to have me combat-ready with it, of course, but enough that I could fire a prototype of one of these custom arrows and see if it works.”

Vex blinked at him, then grinned, her smile lighting up brighter than the midday sun. “Of course!” she said, then reached down to grab his hand.

“Um--” Percy found himself at a loss for words as she wrapped her fingers around his and pulled him to his feet. “Right now?”

“Why not?” she asked. “We’ve got time and daylight.”

“All right.” Percy let her pull him across the campsite, towards the edge of the forest.

Behind them, Scanlan let out a lewd chuckle. “Don’t eat the boy alive, Vex,” he called out. “He’s been useful so far!”

Percy felt his ears go hot and cleared his throat. Vex just made a rude gesture over her shoulder and kept dragging him towards the trees. She stopped about thirty feet back from the treeline and released his hand, then unslung her bow and quiver from her shoulders. “Hold these,” she said and shoved them into his arms.

“Uh, all right.” Percy juggled both items for a moment before getting them settled.

By one of the larger trees, Vex had stopped and pulled a knife from her boot. Percy watched as she carved a large X into the bark, then trotted back to him. “All right,” she said. “There’s your target. Have you ever fired a bow at all?” she asked as she took the bow and quiver back.

“No,” Percy said. “I mean. A crossbow, a few times. But that’s rather different.”

“Yeah.” Vex tapped the fletching of her arrow against her lips as she thought, looking him over, then nodded. “All right, come around to my other side, so you can see how I do it,” she said. “Then we’ll get you started, hm?”

“Okay.” He circled around her, watching as she nocked the arrow and took aim. There was something strikingly beautiful about the movement. Vex was completely in her element here, utterly confident in her skills. Her eyes narrowed slightly, then she released the arrow. It landed in a distant tree with a solid thunk.

“You make it look very easy,” Percy said with appropriate admiration.

Vex grinned and held the bow out to him. “Years of practice, darling,” she replied. “Let’s see how far we can get you in a night.”

He took the bow carefully, not wanting to damage one of her most prized possessions, and turned to imitate Vex’s stance. She put her hands on his shoulders to shift him in place, then stepped in right against his chest, turning her head to check his sightline, or something. Percy was mostly distracted by her hair brushing against his cheek.

“All right, that looks good,” she said and stepped back, leaving Percy with a vague feeling of disappointment. “Now, bring the bow up, arm straight out.”

“Like aiming my pistol.”

“Close.” Vex reached forward and wrapped her hand around his, her fingers warm against his skin. “Relax your grip a little. This doesn’t have, what’d you call it, kickback. You want your arm a little looser than that.”

Percy did as she said and glanced over at her. “Better?”

She squeezed his hand for a moment, then nodded. “Yep!” She grinned and grabbed an arrow. “Now, bring your other arm up, just like that, and you want to line it up in the groove right here.” She placed the shaft of the arrow in the notch on the bow, then held it steady with one hand while guiding his other hand up. “One finger above, two below, and if Scanlan were in earshot he’d be making a filthy joke right now.”

Percy coughed, going red in spite of his best efforts, and Vex laughed. “Oh, you’re too easy.”

“Please, stop setting Scanlan up for jokes,” Percy asked plaintively. Clearly she delighted in making him blush. “He’s not even here.”

She giggled again and shook her head. “All right. That’s good, hold the arrow steady, just like that. Now, draw back to right here.” She reached out and tapped the corner of his mouth, her fingertip feather-light on his lips.

Percy swallowed hard and did as she said. “Like this?”

“Mm, close…” She put her hand on the back of his head next, leading Percy to wonder if maybe Scanlan’s teasing had been correct after all. She pushed his head over about an inch, into the bowstring, then ruffled his hair before drawing back. “All right. Aim feels good?”

“Ah. I think so?”

“Only one way to find out,” she said. “Take a breath, hold it, and fire on the exhale.”

That part, at least, carried over from his guns. Percy inhaled, focused on the big X on the tree, and released the bowstring.

The arrow arced gracefully through the air and disappeared into the woods a good two feet wide of the target. Percy lowered the bow and frowned. “Hm.” That hadn’t gone as intended.

“We’ll adjust the next shot,” Vex said, then took the bow from him and patted his shoulder. “Go fetch.”

Percy sighed and jogged off towards the trees. By the time he returned with the thankfully undamaged arrow, Trinket had joined them, sitting in the grass with his paws folded under his head. “...and he’s learning, so don’t laugh at him,” Vex was saying as Percy came back into earshot.

“I wasn’t aware bears could laugh,” he said as he held out the arrow.

“Oh, you’ll know it when you hear it,” Vex replied. Instead of taking the arrow, she gave him the bow again. “Next shot.”

The next two went wide, but the fourth arrow found its mark in the tree. A good two feet over the target, but still, he’d at least managed to hit something. Percy lowered the bow with a pleased grin and looked over at Vex, who clapped her hands in delight. “Good job!” she said, then held out another arrow. “Shift your aim down a tick this time.”

He wasn’t sure how important it was for him to actually be able to hit the target, since all he wanted to do was properly fire test arrows. But it was a nice excuse to spend a little time alone with her. Well. Relatively alone, save for the enormous bear. He’d take what he could get.

By the time the sun began to set, Percy had landed half a dozen arrows in or around the target, and Vex seemed quite pleased with his progress. “Well, if nothing else,” Percy said as they walked towards the woods to recover what arrows they could, “I think we’ve quite soundly defeated this tree.”

“Yes. Tal’dorei is quite safe from the menace of this mighty oak.” Vex patted the tree, then planted her hand on the bark and yanked out an arrow. She squinted at the arrowhead, then shrugged. “Might be able to salvage it,” she said.

Percy frowned, mentally tallying up the number of arrows she’d wasted on him and his impromptu lesson. “You can use my gold to replace them,” he said.

“Oh!” Vex looked a little surprised by his offer, then smiled. “Well, I’m hardly one to turn down such generosity. Thank you, Percy.”

“Thank you for the lesson.” He handed her a couple of the damaged arrows. “The next arrow I make you is going to work  _ much _ better.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said as she took the arrows back, then started towards the camp.

Percy watched her walk away and sighed, smiling in spite of himself. “Me too.”  

 


End file.
